Letsgohorseracing - Horsing Around

Details: Published: 24 November 2009

THE ‘POT PLANT POLICE’ – IT’S QUEENSLAND RACING’S CANDID CAMERA

THE ‘Pot Plant Police’ – yes, you’re on candid camera – have struck again at Queensland Racing but this time it would seem for all the right reasons.

The victim was jockey Bobby El-Issa, who is the subject of an on-going inquiry over behavior allegedly captured by a ‘Pot Plant’ surveillance camera in the foyer at QR.

Details: Published: 18 November 2009

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE BUY LLOYD A REMOTE CONTROL FOR XMAS?

SOME racing nark suggested that the good folk at TVN should take the hat around and buy multi-millionaire owner, Lloyd Williams, a remote control for Christmas.

That way every time Lloyd hears something that ruffles his feathers he can immediately switch across to Sky Channel where you can bet they will be preening him instead.

Details: Published: 10 November 2009

A MELBOURNE CUP DAY REUNION THESE FRIENDS WILL NEVER FORGET

MOST will remember the Melbourne Cup just run for the history-making quinella of Irish father and son Aidan and Joseph O'Brien but for a group of long-time friends who finally got around to organizing an overdue reunion it will be a day they will never forget.

That clichéd expression – the more things change the more they stay the same – could not have been further from the truth for the five of us who got together for the first time in well over a decade to celebrate the race that stops a nation.

Close-knit families and old friends traditionally use Christmas, Easter or their annual holidays to enjoy a reunion. But after years of growing up and going to the races together, Melbourne Cup day provided a perfect opportunity for the ‘old’ crew to re-live what seemed like a life-time of unforgettable memories.

Details: Published: 04 November 2009

PUNTERS STRUGGLING TO GET UP AGAIN AFTER BEING KNOCKED DOWN

TRAINER Mark Kavanagh was trumpeting the virtues of ‘I Get Knocked Down but I Get Up Again’ after the success of Shocking in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup reversed his Spring Carnival fortunes.

“It’s not about how many times you get knocked down. In racing you just have to keep fronting up,” said Kavanagh nursing a sore head after a few too many celebratory drinks on Cup night.

Details: Published: 27 October 2009

MELBOURNE CUP DAY IS MORE DESERVING OF A PUBLIC HOLIDAY

EVER thought how much more appropriate it would be to celebrate Australia Day with a national public holiday on the first Tuesday in November?

There can’t be too many events more Australian than the Melbourne Cup. Even those who don’t follow racing on a regular basis, like the rest of us, still religiously have a flutter on the big day.

The Melbourne Cup is more than a horse race. It’s arguably Australia’s only genuine, unaffected folk carnival. It’s a day when the richest and the poorest are drawn together by the flimsy excuse of a horse race.

It’s a day of extraordinary good humor, helped along by old-fashioned larrikinism and new-fashioned exhibitionism. It’s a day for toffs and showoffs, for winners and losers.